Actually, the only one who has to do this effort is the original buyer of a media file. Everyone who subsequently gets the file, from whatever source, gets an already DRM-stripped file so has no work to do. Therefore this cannot be considered a distributed dampening mechanism, which is the only kind that can limit file diffusion in a world where infinite copies can be produced at negligible cost.

You're either moving the goalposts or you lost the thread of what we were discussing.

I wasn't talking about pirates. I was talking about the average ebook user. Your response is talking about pirates, whether they call themselves that or not.

Unless, of course, you are under the assumption that most people pirate. If so, I disagree with that assumption. If we rewind a bit, you stated that you believe that small scale sharing among close family / friends is not piracy. However, as has already been mentioned, it currently is piracy. Perhaps it's because you don't feel it's wrong that you assume many people do this form of sharing, but I really don't think that is the case.

As much as I've enjoyed participating in this discussion, it seems we've reached a point where no further progress is being made by either of us. But I do commend and thank you and most others who took part for remaining civil and respectful throughout the disagreements. The US holidays are about to get underway with Thanksgiving this week, and I know from experience that time tends to get away from me during the holidays, so I'm bowing out of this conversation so as to have one less thing to keep track of.

Again, thank you for the opportunity to discuss your ideas in a friendly manner.